The scent of freshness in the midst of the desert, a brief relief from the sand and the dust and the heat, a breath of fresh air, colours coming to bloom. After Rain. /

DIRIYAH CONTEMPORARY ART BIENNALE 2024: AFTER RAIN
/ ART DIRECTION / DESIGN /

For the second edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, based on the edge of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, we were invited to develop the overall identity and accompanying materials, including the logo and identity design, signage, two catalogues, advertising campaigns, an associated website, banners, and a broad range of collaterals.

Featuring over 100 artists from the Gulf Region and beyond, the Biennale was developed in the spirit of dialogue and open-mindedness, with a focus on trying to understand and unravel the geographic, historical, and cultural particularities of the region. It addressed topics such as the meeting of cultures in a time of transition, the exchange of knowledge across regions, traditions, and genres, the interaction between societies and the environment, while putting a strong emphasis on international artists visiting the country and encouraging a practice of sharing knowlegde and time.

The identity attempts to reflect these narratives by a playful interlocking of English and Arabic typography, and bright colour palette reminiscent of a nocturnal society, and compositions that merge an organic fluidity with sharp edges and cuts.

/ Commissioned by / Diriyah Biennale Foundation /
/ Artistic Director / Ute Meta Bauer /
/ Co-Curators / Rose Lejeune, Wejdan Reda, Anca Rujoiu, Ana Salazar Herrera / Adjunct Curator / Rahul Gudipudi /
/ Artists / Hamra Abbas, Jumana Emil Abboud, Sara Abdu, Irene Agrivina, Alia Ahmad, Azra Akšamija,Nabila Al Bassam, Tara Aldughaither & Joe Namy, Rasha Al-Duwaisan, Mohammad AlFaraj, Dhali Al Mamoon, Reem Al Nasser, Daniah Alsaleh, Abdulrahman Al-Soliman, Nazgol Ansarinia, Rasheed Araeen, Siah Armajani, Andrius Arutiunian, Martha Atienza, Tarek Atoui, Dana Awartani, Asma Bahmim,  bahraini—danish, Sammy Baloji,  Zarina Bhimji, Ursula Biemann, Safeya Binzagr, Rossella Biscotti, Bricklab, Britto Arts Trust, Muhanned Cader, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise, Rachaporn Choochuey, Tiffany Chung, Ade Darmawan, Priyageetha Dia, Vikram Divecha, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Alexander Eriksson Furunes & Sudar Khadka, Alia Farid, Christine Fenzl, Ângela Ferreira, Simryn Gill, Anne Holtrop, Hiba Ismail, Saodat Ismailova, Joan Jonas, Susanne Kriemann, Liang Shaoji, Armin Linke & Ahmed Mater, Liu Chuang, Mariah Lookman, Nidhi Mahajan & Moad Musbahi, Taus Makhacheva, Robin Meier Wiratunga, The Migrant Ecologies Project, Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, Regina Maria Möller, James Morris, Tania Mouraud, Zarina Muhammad, Dala Nasser, Hind Nasser, Hussein Nassereddine, Filwa Nazer, Nguyên Trinh Thi, NJOKOBOK, Elia Nurvista, Phi Phi Oanh, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Jorge Otero-Pailos, Sopheap Pich, Marjetica Potrc, Lala Rukh, Arin Rungjang, Tomás Saraceno, Citra Sasmita, Seher Shah, Hassan Sharif, Shooshie Sulaiman, syn architects, Tang Da Wu, Paulo Tavares / autonoma, TAYYUN, Sissel Tolaas, Anaïs Tondeur, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, Suzann Victor, Munem Wasif, Ines Weizman, Jana Winderen, Yang Fudong, Yeo Siew Hua, Liam Young, Camille Zakharia, Samia Zaru, Feifei Zhou /
/ Scenography / Laura Miotto, Savina Nicolini /
/ Editorial Lead / Laura Schleussner /
/ Design Assistance / João Pedro Costa, Linda Riedl /
/ Arabic Typography / bytwo /
/ Exhibition Photography / Marco Capelletti, Alessandro Brasile /

Currents of knowledge gathering in pools along the riverbank. Dipping in our hands to see what they can hold. Theory in practice, rippling across the archipelagoes of South East Asia. /

NTU CCA SINGAPORE / COLLATERALS AND IDENTITIES
/ ART DIRECTION / DESIGN /

A leading international art institution, NTU CCA Singapore is a research centre for art, culture, and science of Nanyang Technological University. Since its founding in 2013, it has been gathering strands of academic research and artistic production under its three-fold constellation of Exhibitions, Residencies, and Research and Education.

Since 2017, mono.studio has accompanied the exhibitions programme at NTU CCA Singapore, developing unique visual identities for each presentation, as well as books, programmes, and other related collaterals. In 2018, we applied a modular system to the institute’s entire printed output to provide a consistent structure within their given graphic identity, redesigning along the way the regular programmes for the Exhibitions and Residencies departments.

/ Client / NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore /